maguirre

Hi all,

I've been thinking about upgrading my stock exhaust system to the TRD one...
Are the stock headers easy to replace????
Please provide me with any feedback that you guys may have on this subject.

TIA,

maguirre
00' SR5, 5spd

midiwall

Welcome to the forum... you should really try searching on something like "headers pain" or even just "headers".


Installing headers on our trucks is one of the most aggrivating things you could possibly do. There are two key issues, a) getting the crossover pipe out, and b) there are a couple of blind nuts that will drive you nuts.

I worked out a deal with a local shop that thought it would be easy, my story's up here: http://midiwall.com/4Runner/headers.html

Past this being a pain, there's also the question of performance for the dollar. If you're not running a supercharger, then I would NOT recommend that you install headers. The performance kick simply isn't worth the money that you'll spend.


Again, welcome to the forum.... Search around a bit and you'll find other people talking about the fun.

ebelen1

I've researched this as well and thanks to people like midiwall, I've decided against the headers on the 3.4 3rd gen for now. You really have only two choices from my research, TRD or Downy. The TRD headers were about $800 while Downey was substantially cheaper at about $350. If you can do the install yourself, then maybe Downeys based on cost/benefit. If not, you're looking at install of anywhere from $200 - $400 in addition to the parts. If the $ look fine, I'd say go for it and let us know how it works on your truck.

Tomsriv

That engine compartment is pretty tight. However, it looks like the shop created some big restrictions in your setup. The transistion from the header to collecter, down to the 1 1/2? inch pipe is very abrupt. Second, the entrance into the Cat looks like it is the stock size and creating a pinch point. Third, if you ran full length headers you would probably see more improvemnt in the mid range power. The nice thing about trucks is that you have plenty of ground clearance (but you would have to get real creative with the crossover and cats).

I put headers on the 1970 El Camino I drove in high school. When I took it to the shop they stuck the 2.5 inch pipes an inch into the 3" collector It sounded better but was slower. I ended up fixing it myself and along with the exhaust my 0-60 went from 8 seconds to 7 seconds and my mileage improved from 12 to 13mpg.

midiwall

Hi Tom;

That page is about two years old - the work from the L/R Y on back to the tail has since been redone by a real performance shop.

The transition that you're seeing is stock Downey, there's not a lot I can do about that short of having the headers pulled, cut the collector off and a new one custom fabbed. I talked to a real exhaust shop about that, and it's just a lot of work to do.

Full-length headers aren't really an option in terms of $$$. They're not made for these trucks, so we're talking a custom setup. There's a well-known shop here in WA that does that kind of work, but ... eeek. Then, like you say, there's the issue of getting the exhaust out the back.


Going the route of TRD, Downey or other pre-fabbed headers is generally the best choice for price/performance.


Yeup.. the max pipe that we run is generally 2.25 for N/A, or 2.5" for S/C. Anything more than that and performance just goes to pot.

maguirre

Thanks for your replies guys,

Everyone seems to agree that there's not much benefit in replacing the stock headers....
So, I'll probably decide to keep them,... now, if I go ahead and buy the TRD exhaust, would it mount perfectly to the stock headers???

Anyone using this set up?? Stock headers - TRD exhaust??

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

TIA,

maguirre
00' SR5, 5spd

rimpainter.com

Sure, it will mount to the stock cat. TRD exhaust is a nice system, but way overpriced IMO. Why not just get a new muffler welded on and save yourself $400? Jardine also makes a cat back system that is actually a good deal. If you need muffler ideas, search the forum as it has been discussed numerous times. Let us know if you have any further questions.